Kerala farmers to be relieved from Rs 4,000 crore debt

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 29 (UNI) Kerala farmers will be relieved of about Rs 4,000 crore in the various districts of the State from the debt waiver relief for farmers announced in the budget today.

Talking to newspersons here, State Finance Minister T M Thomas Issac said according to a rough estimate, the farmer's debt in the scheduled banks came to about Rs 3,000 crore and it was about Rs 1,000 crore in the cooperative sector. The figures could only rise, he added.

Though the budget had talked of waiving the farmers' loan, it was not stated how it was going to be implemented, he said. ''Who is going to take the responsibility? Will the banks be asked to waive of the loans or the State Governments be asked to take part of the loan along with the Centre? This is not clear'', he added.